Amsterdam Day 234: Oman Day 2

After the Mosque, I took off into the mountains to explore a bit more. First stop was a fort in Bahla.

This is a restored fort that was recently reopened to the public. It was amazing to look at. 

I walked into one of these rooms and there were birds flying everywhere, some getting really close to my head. I freaked out a little until I figured out what they were. 

Yep. They were bats. I freaked out a little more and quickly left the room. But just so you don't get the wrong idea, it was a manly freak out. And a manly scampering out of the room. 

I climbed up a lot of stairs and climbed the towers. My thought as I was walking through was, "Wow, this is amazing. And this is what I always imagined the Alamo to be like." But compared to the this, the Alamo is disappointing. Very disappointing. 

Another 45 minutes up into the mountains brings you to the base of the Wadi Ghul. It is often referred to as the Grand Canyon because it is also grand and it is also a canyon. The picture doesn't do this justice, but you can see the beginning of the canyon, just to the right of the old abandoned village. 

Driving back to civilization, I came upon this young lady just laying around. I want to call her Sacajawea for some reason. 

Further up another mountain side is the little village of Misfat. There is a huge gorge with banana trees, date trees, pomegranate trees, and other stuff. It is so much fun to be driving through these deserted areas and then come upon the wadis with all the trees and water. 

As I was walking through the gorge, the call to prayer began from the village. If you want, you can listen and see. 

I had an interesting interaction at the grocery store. Two probably 20 year old Indian guys took a particular interest in me. I originally thought that maybe they didn't see many pale bald white guys around here. They asked several questions about where I was from and if I was alone. When I left the store, one came up to me and asked if I wanted a massage. I responded with a polite no. And then he told me that he was a sex boy and asked if I was interested. I'm not sure if anyone knows this about me, since I've never really told anyone, but I'm not really into Indian dudes.  So I declined and drove off very fast.